The Course Hero Round Up: What We’re Reading and You Should, Too

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Hey there Course Heroes,

We haven’t done a round up in a while, so today’s scouring of the interwebs have landed us with a nice assortment of edtech conversations from over the course of the last week. The below articles should keep you occupied on your commute this fine Monday evening.

#happy reading

BusinessWeek's interactive graphic lets you visualize teenage performance in math, science and reading across countries

Kicking it off with a not-so-uplifting education milestone from last week: the Atlantic Wire covers American student debt surpassing $1 trillion and other soul-crushingly depressing statistics.

The DOE celebrates its 32nd birthday and GOOD’s Liz Dwyer asks whether the government organization is even necessary anymore as its role has morphed so significantly from the number-crunching agency established in the 1970s.

KQED MindShift makes the case for social media in learning, while the OPEN TECHNOLOGY blog discusses the necessity of technology in schools to ensure the digital literacy of future generations. Both pieces contrast the New York Times Sunday edition feature on the Waldorf School in Silicon Valley: a deliberately tech-free environment.

Two additional note-worthy pieces from the New York Times last week: As #Occupy everywhere rages on, New York Times’ Nick Kristof proposes that the single step that would have the most impact on decreasing income disparity in his piece, Occupy the Classroom. The Economix blog encourages undecided college students to pursue STEM majors given the rising value of a science degree.

And for those overstressed high schoolers up to their eyeballs in the applications process, Washington Post busts 7 common college admissions myths that will hopefully alleviate some stress (err…if that’s possible).

Lastly, this week in data viz land: We have a great interactive graphic from BusinessWeek (above) that lets you compare teenage performance in science, reading and math across countries.

List of articles:

• The Atlantic Wire: Students Now Owe $1 Trillion in Loans
• Bloomberg BusinessWeek: Head of the Class
• New York Times: At Waldorf School in Silicon Valley: Technology Can Wait
• New York Times: Occupy the Classroom
• New York Times Economix: The Rising Value of a Science Degree
• KQED MindShift: A Case for Using Social Media with Learning
• GOOD: Happy 32nd Birthday Department of Education: Do We Still Need You?
• OPENTECHNOLOGY: Edtech Investment is Essential for Digital Literacy
• Washington Post: 7 College Admissions Myths Exposed